LIB 203 Social Media and Older Adults

The brief article “AARP Overhauls Website as New Research Finds Social Networking Continues to Rise Among Boomers and 50+ Americans.” (June 2010) describes the recent changes to the AARP website. These changes are designed to create an interactive online community for AARO.org users. In conjunction with the website update AARP is expanding its online content delivery to e-readers, smart phones and mobile phones. The article also highlights research findings from AARP. These finding show that among Americas 50+ social networking is growing and Facebook is the most popular social networking site.

In the article “The Ongoing Web Revolutions” Michael Stephens (2007) suggests that participation in Web 2.0 social media like facebook, flickr and youtube is built on trust. The AARP research findings that a majority of 50+ Americans have heard about social media from family members, children and grandchild supports Stephens proposed link between Web 2.0 participation and trust. Working with older adults I’ve found many rely heavily on recommendations from family members with regards to computers and the internet. For example, my son recently got married out of state. For health reason his grandmother could not travel to the wedding. We upload the wedding video to youtube and she was able to see the wedding before the cake was cut! She then participated in the Web 2.0 by sharing that youtube link via email with her brothers and sister.

AARP Overhauls Website as New Research Finds Social Networking Continues to Rise Among Boomers and 50+ Americans. (2010, June 7). PR Newswire. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aarp-overhauls-website-as-new-research-finds-social-networking-continues-to-rise-among-boomers-and-50-americans-95762894.html

Update 8/27/10:
Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project data supports the AARP finding listed above. http://t.co/NjV5reZ

LIB 203 My Thoughts About Succeeding as an Online Student and as a Member of an Online Team

This year I’ve taken two undergraduate courses online. Based on my limited experience I would say that the personal qualities needed for being a successful online student aren’t that different from those needed to be a successful traditional student. These qualities include taking your assignments seriously, turning your work in on time and asking questions when you are unclear about the lectures or assignments.

I also think most successful online students make a habit of:

• Logging in every day or every weekday to check for course announcements posted by the instructor.
• Checking their course email every day.
• Making backups of assignments in two places.
• Having a back-up plan for those times when their computer or Internet goes down.

For me, one of the best things about being an online student…never having to worry about finding a parking place.




I work in a small department including me we have one full time and three part-time employees. We rely on teamwork to provide our patron’s with excellent service and keep our department running smoothly. Just like an online team, one of the biggest challenges facing our department is the lack of face time among part-time co-workers. Listening to Dr. Haycock's lecture on successful teamwork helped me focus on what works so well in our department. First good communication is essential. From my past experience at another organization, I know lack of communication can quickly lead to problems with the team. In our department, we communicate daily via email, written notes and document sharing with Microsoft SharePoint.

Secondly in our office we have well defined duties and performance standards. There is no ambiguity about who does what or when those tasks need to done. But when one of us needs help with a task the others chip in to get the job done. The department’s focus remains on the overall goals rather than individual assignments. Enid Irwin in her presentation “The Monster Inside Library School: Student Teams” states that “Teamwork is -- it's a combination of Attitude and Planning. The two fit together. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of thought.” I agree and I’ve found that a positive attitude among team members follows when they all understand the ground rules and have good communication.

I’m looking forward to working with other SLIS students on assignments and group projects.

Blog Post for LIB 203 or Yea! I’m Finally Starting Grad School

This month I start my graduate student studies. I’m attending San Jose State University (SJSU) School of Library and Information Science (SLIS). I’m working towards my Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS). This fall I’m taking two classes LIB 203 which is a 1 credit introduction to the program and LIB 200 which is a core course that includes a term paper.

I’ve been thinking a lot about writing the term paper. I’ve talked to family and co-workers regarding the paper and the process of writing one. I’ve also been reading the posts on the yahoo group for SLIS students (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sjsumlis/).

To help with citations and keeping track of research a couple of tools have been recommended -

Evernote http://www.evernote.com/ and

Zotero http://www.zotero.org/

Blog readers I want your input! If you used Evernote or Zotero, please leave a comment and share your experience with me and other readers. Was the software easy to use? Did intergate well with your web browser and Mircsoft Office? In general was it a time saver?

A Short and Sweet “History of the Book”

6 minutes is all you need to view “A Video History of Every Book Ever Written” by Marshall Crook for the Wall Street Journal




Also on WSJ.com an article about Great Audiobooks http://on.wsj.com/awR3lf

Digital Talking Books Celebrated by Librarians Serving Blind and Physically Handicapped Readers

News release from the Library of Congress "The delivery of high-quality-sound book cartridges and easy-to-navigate players was the result of 10 years of research, planning, and development," said Frank Kurt Cylke, NLS director. "The digital talking-book system will eventually replace cassettes and the machines used to play them in the homes of all our patrons."

Tom Miller, executive director of the Blinded Veterans Association, lauded the librarians for their work. He said that "besides not being able to drive anymore, not being able to read" is a concern to soldiers who return from the war blind. "The service you provide is truly a joy and a pleasure to us."

Read the whole story here:
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-146.html

Mother's Day Gift Idea: The Flipper Big Button Remote

Mother’s day is this weekend and Father’s day will be here soon. I recently spoke with the daughter of a Talking Book patron. She suggested I pass along this gift idea, The Flipper Big Button Remote. What she likes about this TV remote is that it is easy for her father to use. At the same time she has access to all the programming keys. The Flippers programming keys that are covered so that they don’t confuse the intended user. The flipper also has a “Lock It ” function so the remote cannot be accidental reprogrammed.





Click to Amazon link to read reviews. The Flipper Big Button Remote sales for about $30.

How to Get an Absentee Ballot for the Kentucky Primary Election

In Kentucky advanced age, disability, or illness qualifies voters for a mail-in absentee ballot. Call your local county clerk’s office to request an absentee ballot. A list of county clerks and their contact information can be found through this link.

More information about absentee ballots can be found through this link.

Please remember to vote on May 18, 2010.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Wow! I just saw this video titled Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
The video summarizes what we learned in the 24 things class.

24 things Week 12: Foursquare

After exploring Foursquare I opted out. First, I don’t have a cell phone with web access, that means all my check-ins would be via text message. That’s what I’ve been doing on twitter for years. For me earning virtual badges is not a compelling reason to change from twitter to foursquare. Second and more importantly is the privacy issue. This website explains and demonstrates the danger of publicly telling people where you are http://pleaserobme.com/why

Personally, I have no idea if Foursquare will be around in three years or if it will be yesterday news.

Reading Out Loud Adds Accessibility Option

I’m experimenting with a third party plug in called Odiogo. The service links to this blog and converts the posts into computer generated audio. You can listen to the posts by clicking the listen now button located just below the title of each post. If you use this feature please leave a comment and let me know what you think about it. Also I’d appreciate comments and suggestions on other ways I can make Reading Out Loud more accessible.

Seniors Series Kicks Off At Kenton County Public Library

April and May are packed with lots of great programs and they are all FREE of charge!

Check out the whole schedule here.

If it's been a year or two since you've had your eyes checked be sure to take advantange of the Free Vision Screenings for Seniors on Tuesday, May 11, starting at 10 a.m. at the Erlanger Branch Library, 401 Kenton Lands Road. People age 50 and older can get their vision tested and eyes screened for cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration from the eye professionals with the Cincinnati Eye Institute (CEI).

Digital Talking-Book Internet Service Delivers One Millionth Download

A patron from the Kentucky Talking Book Library made history when she downloaded "Charlotte’s Web" from BARD!

Read the News Release from the Library of Congress here

24 Things Week 10 [Part 2]: Free Online Gaming

I played insaniquarium on popcap and alchemy on MSN. These games are fun but they are very addictive and timewasters. I really try to stay away from them. For something new I tried Twivia! It was suppose to be a real time trivia game on twitter. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been updated in over a month.

24 things Week 10 [Part 1]: Watching TV online

View the major TV network sites. How does each make their shows available? Which is the most open and accessible?

Fox- Click watch full episode button in the upper left corner and choose a show.
NBC- Click watch full episode button then choose a show. On my home computer the NBC show took longer to load than Fox show.
ABC- Click on screen shots of the shows available. On my home computer the ABC show was the fastest to load.
CBS- The site was a little harder to navigate than the three previous sites but CBS offered TV classics. I was able to watch an old episode of Twin Peaks. Cool!
PBS- By far the hardest site to navigate and the worst video quality.

Review two Internet TV distributors. Which site to you recommend and why?

Hulu- Easy to use and a nice vary of shows.
BBC iPlayer- I tried to watch a show on the BBC iPlayer site and I got this message “BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK”

I recommend Hulu, my friends and family use it all the time.

Look for your favorite shows online using search engines or online directories. Recommend a show to your blog readers.

Clicker - I explored the Clicker online search engine site. A feature on the site I really like is the Netflix listings. I recommend watching the 5 minute webisodes that recap each week’s episode of Lost.

Lost - LOST Untangled - ABC.com

Talking books make difficult tasks easier - Pratt, KS - Pratt Tribune

Talking books make difficult tasks easier - Pratt, KS - Pratt Tribune

Posted using ShareThis

YouTube Video Featuring the New Talking Book Digital Player

Talking book patrons curious about the digital transition should watch this video produced by State Library of Kansas. It’s a cute head on comparison between the cassette player and the digital player.

If you or someone you know would like to apply for the Talking Book program, contact your local library or go to this webpage http://www.loc.gov/nls/find.html to search by county or state.

Week 9 [Part 1]: Podcasting

I listen to two podcast for library related stuff.

The ABC Book Reviews: A Beth and Cari Production. I love listening to these two ladies talk about books! Here are just some of the topics they have covered in recent podcasts- the Tournament of Books for 2010, Best Books of 2009, Best First Novels, News for September and "What book have you faked reading?"

Tisch Talks: The Tisch Library Podcast Series . This podcast series was featured 2009 list of 100 Terrific Websites to Celebrate National Library Week list.

http://www.onlinebestcolleges.com/blog/2009/100-terrific-websites-to-celebrate-national-library-week/

My all time favorite podcast is Gamers with Jobs Conference Call. They review lots of computer/video games and still manage not to be fan boys. If you don’t know what a fan boy is than this podcast is probably not for you.

Week 8 - Google and Other Search Engines

This blog post in reply to the assignment and questions for KCPL’s 24things class.

Overall I’m a Google kind of gal. Using the blind search, I searched for “dragon age”. My first selection was Google, for this search Yahoo came in a close second. Next I searched for “twitters 10 billion tweets”. Google was the clear winner. Third I searched for “good Friday 2010” I was surprised. Bing was the clear winner for that search.

The video seemed a little short on Google tips and really didn’t find out anything new about Google. For yahoo, I leaned you could send an email from the search box and for Bing I learned how to quickly find a company’s customer service phone number.

Post for the Google features part of the assignment- I use Google news search and Google news alters.

Post for the Wolfram-Alpha- The things it covers it does really well, I typed in geese and got very little information
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=geese

Benetech, WGBH National Center for Accessible Media and U.S. Fund for DAISY Receive $5 Million to Transform Production of Accessible Images

Benetech, WGBH National Center for Accessible Media and U.S. Fund for DAISY Receive $5 Million to Transform Production of Accessible Images

Quotes for the artcle -
Too often, students using text-based accessible instructional materials (AIM) are presented with only the words "image" or "graphic" when the devices they use to read digital text encounter illustrations, equations, graphics, photos or diagrams in textbooks.

The new Digital Image and Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials Center (DIAGRAM) will develop tools and best practices that will make it easier and more cost-effective to create and use accessible images across a range of educational content.

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Is Any One Reading This Blog?

I'm having way too much fun updating and maintaining my blog. I've decided to keep it going after the 24things class ends. I wanted to find out who else beside me is viewing the blog. After a little research I chose the free service SiteMeter. To find out more about this website tracking tool click here or click little logo at the bottom of the page.

Postal Service seeks 5-day delivery

Read the USA today article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-03-01-postalservice_N.htm

This is bad news for Talking Book Libraries and Patrons. Digital download of books through BARD will help but the transition to digital is slow. Currently less than half of NKTBL's patrons have the digital players that are required for BARD service. Talking book players are also sent through the mail. That means if a person’s player breaks after the Thursday mail pick-up, the soonest they could get a replacement player would be Monday.

What Facebook Quizzes Know About You

What Facebook Quizzes Know About You

Wow! a friend from high school included me on a friend quiz on facebook. I thought was that something I should check out and sure enough, more privacy setting needed to be adjusted. Facebook, I am not a fan!

You Just Have to Believe in Yourself

The 2010 Winter Olympics are almost over. It's time to gear up for the Winter Paralympics. This podcast features the Canadian Ice Sledge Hockey team.

To find out about the U.S. national sled-hockey team check out this article for the Buffalo News.

Online Photo Editing

I chose picnik because I already have flickr account. Picnik is really easy to use and I will use it again. I edited the picture just like would with any desktop application. I was pleasantly surprised by the number and variety of editing options. I’m not big on photo editing, mostly just red eye removal. For this exercise I added text to a picture, something that comes in handy when working on presentations and newsletters.

I chose picture2life because it can run on machines without flash installed. Uploading my picture was easy and I did not have to register which was plus. The user interface for adding text on picture2life had lot of options but not as intuitive as picnik. I couldn’t figure out if I could angle my text box. Still adding the text to picture only took a few minutes. Then was able to directly post the edit picture on my blog. Cool! To read another review of picture2life and see some effects in action click here

Kudos to the KCPL staff who put this lesson together . I learned a lot in a very few minutes. I would not have explored these photo editing websites on my own. The 24things class gave me just the push I needed.

To see the orginial pic and 2 edits next to each other visit my flickr photostream.

Governor Beshear signs legislation to benefit Kentucky Veterans

From the press release:
HB 14, sponsored by Rep. Charles Siler, of Williamsburg, allows for permanently and totally disabled veterans who are citizens of Kentucky to stay at Kentucky state parks for up to three nights per year at no cost, subject to space availability.

HB75, sponsored by Rep. Mike Cherry, of Princeton, amends current state government personnel statutes to provide a preference to veterans.

To read the whole release click here

Streaming Audio for 24 Things class

I created a station on Pandora. I added coldplay & smashing pumpkins and then made a quickmix with the 2 stations. I limit my use streaming audio or video at work because of bandwidth issues. At home I listen to satellite radio for new music. I buy music from Amazon.com.

One music website I really like is Setlist.fm. It’s a wiki-like service that collects and share setlists. Type in an artist and the site brings up a list of concert dates. Click on a date and you see the setlist for that concert. The songs in the setlist are linked to videos or music.

For example Snoop Dog is coming to town this weekend, to get preview of the concert checkout the list of songs from his concert Tuesday (2/16/2010)night in Chicago .
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/snoop-dogg/2010/metro-chicago-il-43d75723.html

Kenton County Public Library Digital Branch

On 2/16/10 I downloaded the eBook “Building Bone Vitality” by Amy J. Lanou and the audiobook “The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood from the digital branch of Kenton County Public Library (KCPL).

I am familiar with the KCPL digital branch and Overdrive Media Player. I’ve downloaded both eBooks and audiobooks from the website before this assignment. EBooks from the digital branch aren’t for me, I have a Kindle but I do not have a smartphone or a laptop. To read eBooks from the digital branch I have to be at my desktop computer, not one of my favorite places to read books.

Audiobooks downloaded from the digital branch are nice. They have good sound quality, the download times are reasonable and I can transfer them to my MP3 player. One small complaint I have about the overdrive software is how breaks up the books into “parts” for downloads and transfer to MP3. I found this confusing the few times I listened to an Overdrive audiobook.

Two problems I have with KCPL digital branch are the selection and the hold process. I view digital 24 hours access as “on demand” but many of items I wish to download are not available either because they aren’t part of the collection or they are already checked out. With regards to the hold process, by time I get an email saying an item is available for checkout, I’ve either found the item someplace else or I’m no longer interested.

To visit the KCPL digital branch click here
For free audiobooks samples from Overdrive Media click here
To learn more about the Amazon Kindle click here

Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents and Survivors

For the 2009 Edition PDF and an online a summary of the benefits programs provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for which Veterans and their families may be eligible click here.

Click here for a list of applications and links to the forms for VA benefits that can be submitted online.

KCPL 24 Things Week 5

I'm subscribing to the following feeds:

24ann41011
http://24ann41011.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Joe'sWorld
http://joestalkshow.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

KCPL's 24 Things
http://24thingskcpl.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Keith
http://oldog75.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Leigh Does 24 Things
http://leighdoes24things.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Natalie's Notes
http://nataliesnotesnow.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Still Learning
http://cmayhugh.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Veterans May Get to Stay at Kentucky State Parks for Free

Kentucky lawmakers have approved legislation giving totally disabled veterans a free 3 day stay in state parks. Read the whole story here.

Accessibility Review

Just in time for Superbowl Sunday the AFB (American Foundation for the Blind) evaluates three popular sites:

NFL.com
ESPN.com
SI.com

for ease of use with a screen reader.

Bottom line SI.com scored more points than the others.

Read the all the reviews here.

Radioshackakistan

Jay Leno jokes about obsolete technology, audio tapes and finding old machines to play them.

Privacy and Facebook

The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now

This in-depth article from the Technology section of the New York Times reviews and explains 3 key elements of facebook privacy settings:

Who Can See The Things You Share
Who Can See Your Personal Info
What Google Can See - Keep Your Data Off the Search Engines.

For someone new to facebook like me, it was very helpful for understanding who sees what and where they see it. The article concludes "it's time to be proactive about things and look out for yourself".

More Wiki Stuff

I added a page to the KCPL wiki that lists all the counties NKTBL serves and links to each county's public library. Check it out at:

http://kcpl24things.wiki-site.com/index.php/Ginnyky

24 Things- Week 3 Wikis

From the links on the KCPL 24 things blog I found a couple of interesting wiki’s.

The Loudoun County Public Library in Virginia created a community wiki. This seems like an idea way share your local knowledge with area residents and visitors.

The Children's Series Binder wiki at is designed to help sort though the huge world of children’s fiction. A wiki provide the prefect format for this kind of information exchange. If a children’s author or series all of sudden becomes the new must read a wiki can be updated with the pertinent information in matter moments. At the same time it archives and makes readily accessible frequently asked questions. For example this wiki provides a list the of American Girls and the titles of their books and short stories.

In my personal life, I often refer to wiki when I’m playing video games. Video game wiki’s are much more likely to document software glitches than a game’s official website. Two excellent and well maintained video game wiki’s are Fallout series and Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages.

Have a strong P@$$W0rd? Keep it Pr!v@t3

Passwords are like Pants...
Originally uploaded by Richard Parmiter

Unique passwords are one place online that the end user can take responsible for his or her privacy

News flash! Simple passwords are easily hacked

Just common sense really, using a password like abc123 is the cyber equivalent to leaving the spare house key under the welcome mat.
If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make It HackMe

Personal Privacy vs Internet Social Networking

I searched for Virginia Jacobs on Google and found dozens of women with my name but not me. I got the same results searching Google for Ginny Jacobs.

After watching the video I’ve decide to keep the default privacy settings for my blog.

For me, the challenge is really more about a willingness to share information over internet rather than keeping sensitive information private. My adult children have been excellent mentors in this regard. Just like I was in the 90’s when I pushed and cajoled my mom to start leaving messages on my answering machine.

Avatars Gone Wild

I’m familiar with avatars. I’m an active participant on a gaming forum and I change my avatar for that forum about 4 times a year. For my 24 things assignment I’m using an animated snoopy avatar on my blog and a snoopy pic for my friends/following list.

Blindness Groups, ASU Settle Suit Over Kindle - ABC News

Blindness Groups, ASU Settle Suit Over Kindle - ABC News

Acquiring textbooks in a timely manner is often a challenge for NKTBL’s high school and college age patrons. We have fiction titles for English classes. Textbooks are not included in the NLS talking-book and braille program. When our office receives a request for a textbook we provide referrals to print houses that publish textbooks in large print, braille and audio formats. In general textbooks must be purchased.

Free Audio books and Samples

If you listen to Audio Books be sure to visit the BBC Audiobooks America website. http://www.bbcaudiobooksamerica.com/Trade/TradeHome/tabid/60/Default.aspx

They usually run a promotion featuring a free audio book for download. The current promotion is free copy of Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry By Neil Gaiman and the Twitterverse Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

http://bbcaudiobooksamerica.com/TradeHome/Blog/tabid/58/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/147/bbcawdioThe-Twitter-Audiobook-is-Here.aspx

You can listen on your computer or download the MP3 file.

What is a Blog?

Trial run with adding video to my blog

How to change the time zone setting on Blogger

This link will show you how:
http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41963

A Talking Book patron in Fredericksburg, Virginia shares how Talking Books have changed her life

I've often heard stories like this our patrons or thier family http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/012010/01072010/518887

24 Things

This post is for the 24 Things project at the Kenton County Public Library.

I took the quiz at http://pewinternet.org/Participate/What-Kind-of-Tech-User-Are-You.aspx
And the result suggests I’m a Digital Collaborator. Sounds like a fancy way of saying “I'm on the Internet too much”.